It is frustrating living in Northwestern Ontario with the COVID virus crawling through our communities. We look south and see how quickly residents in northern Minnesota are being vaccinated. We watch with bated breath as our seniors at Rainycrest receive their second vaccination. With a second outbreak in Rainycrest staff […]
Jim Cumming – From the Publisher Emeritus’ Pen
Jim is the former publisher of the Fort Frances Times Ltd. He writes a weekly column and can be contacted at jcumming@fortfrances.com
The outside temperature now says seven degrees. The sky is blue and today there is a little brisk wind from the west. There are waves on the upper river and walkers have left their dens for outside exercise. It is amazing what a difference one week can make in your […]
It is “Family Day” as I write this column. It is much like Christmas; we are together but separated. Our children are both 1700 km away from us. In many ways, “Family Day” is not as it was supposed to be. Planned by politicians, the “Family Day” February holiday was […]
Over the weekend I read an interesting opinion piece by Patrick Smith in the New York Times. He is a singer, songwriter and has worked in the oil fields of North Dakota. His opinion piece forced me to rethink my view of pipelines and the rush to clean energy. I […]
Hindsight is a great marker for examining the roads we take. Looking back, I had a chance to buy “Apple” stock at less than $8.00. Through many splits, the stock was trading at $134 on Tuesday. I didn’t buy. Similarly, it is important to look back when we examine decisions […]
Most of the time when I go ice fishing I travel via snowmobile and I pull a portable shelter built onto a sled. I can put all of the gear that I need for a day on the ice inside the sled, cover it up and I’m good to go. […]
Last Wednesday I watched the unfolding of the transfer of leadership in the United States. It was impressive pageantry that we do not see in Canada. And as I listened to the singing of “America the Beautiful” by the choir, I remembered back to elementary school as we sang those […]
It is surprising how some jobs you once detested help break the monotony of daily life under the COVID-19 emergency lock downs. Take for instance the thought of snow shovelling. Under normal circumstances, I would probably have looked at it as a chore; something I had to do, but not […]
I am feeling a little bit of anger. I am disappointed by residents of Fort Frances and the Rainy River District. I believe that I am not alone. We were asked by the premier of Ontario to restrict visits in our homes over the Christmas holiday season to reduce the […]
We look to our politicians for leadership. We hold them to higher standards. Our leading health care officials of all ten provinces and the government of Canada asked Canadians to not travel outside of the country. The Ford government of Ontario put in rules asking Ontarians to not host meals […]
We have learned a great many new things this year. Almost a year ago, I wrote a column about flu and the need for people to be vaccinated. It focused on the regular flu that occurs regularly each year. At that time news was just reaching us about a new […]
One can’t but feel a little hope across the world today. Television, radio, newspapers, and social media have broadcast the arrival of jets bringing the vaccine to North America and then we watched as trucks rolled out to cities to deliver their life saving vaccines. In Canada we began distributing […]
